Month: April 2018

2Ts in a Pod is coming to Innovate ELT at Oxford House in Barcelona on May 11th & 12th and you can join us there at a discounted price using the offer code ‘2TSINAPOD20’ when you buy your ticket from the link below:

A quick post to promote a really good cause; Shay Coyne is fundraising in order to set up a support group to help people with mental health problems access services such as English classes. Shay explains below, follow the link at the bottom to make a donation:

My Background:

I studied psychology as a double major, specialising in clinical psychology. I then changed careers and became passionate about education, gaining my Trinity CertTESOL, and MA in applied linguistics.

With my psychology background I became very interested in those students who were SEN but still marginalised from society. The majority are unable to attend a language academy or the EOI because their illness leaves them with memory challenges, behaviour challenges, for example one student freaks out when we do something new, I have to really break it down for them to feel confident in their learning. These students are a challenge to teach but they are my favourite group. I teach them voluntary in Gràcia every Thursday morning.

If anyone could make a donation, that would be amazing. If anyone could share the project with their contacts, that would be a great help.

The Project:

After 3 years working from home as a private English teacher, I am taking the next step to be more professional. I’m currently in the process of creating my own start-up business and have found a place for my work office to rent. Thanks to the location of this office, I would reduce travel time, which means I would have more free time for my end goal: I work as a volunteer for Salut Mental Catalunya, teaching English to people with mental health disorders in Barcelona, and from September I would like to open a new group in my city of Sabadell so that people with mental health problems have a space that is inclusive and allows them to access services, like English classes, to have the same opportunities to make use of these services. Any donation would be greatly appreciated, even if it’s 1€. I feel that this start-up will allow me to be part of more volunteer projects, and I’d love for you to help me if you can. Click on the link to find out more about the Mental Health Friendly project. If you are a teacher and would be interested in volunteering, send me a message and I can put you in contact with the person responsible for this project.

The fifth episode of our new podcast for B2+ English students and teachers alike is now live! In this episode we’re talking about our pet hates or things that really annoy us. Go to our SoundCloud page and download the teacher’s notes below:

On this episode we were talking about crimes like pick pocketing and mugging as well as other types of scam. We interviewed several people about their experiences being the victims of crime in Barcelona and other parts of the world. Hope you enjoy the show!

We talked about food, glorious food! We interviewed Nicole Hooks and Abbi Nelliug about US Southern soul food and traditional Dominican food respectively. Nicole speaks about her southern food pop-up supper club Sarah Juliette’s Southern Kitchen. Click the link below to find out more, she’s got events coming up in the next few weeks. Also, check out the recipe for the delicious gumbo that we taste on the show.